Hi Milo, I haven't had a job for 2 years now, first time I have ever been out of work. Saved for the event, stored food, I grow a veggie garden, I burn wood don't travel much, don't burn many lights, shower less shave less

I'm involved in a community cafe where I work Thursdays; then there is a training kitchen I attend on Tuesdays & a lunchclub for the elderly on Wednesdays. Finally there is the odd Saturday (when they need cover) where i work at Christchurch Priory gift shop.

I have more in the pipeline DBS (Disclosure Barring Service) pending & assuming that comes up positive then alls well

As you probably have guessed (my mentioning DBS) I am an ex offender & the lunch club is my Community Payback element of my community order of the court. The training kitchen is the ETE (Education Training Employment) element of that same community order. I am trying to get probation to approve single placement for me at the cafe. But as I already work there probation are not too keen as community payback is supposed to be a punishment so working there already & them single placing me there would by definition not be a punishment. My total hours consist of 250. Currently I am working through them seven hours a week at the lunchclub. If probation approve the cafe then that will be another for totalling eleven hours a week. That would be two of the required weekly placements. But the problem is this: My community order is actually an IAC (Intensive Alternative to Custody. The IAC is the total last resort a magistrate has other than sending you to prison; the ultimate last chance (because I have a history of being a 'naughty boy'. There is a thread here on SF asking why did you choose your user name (or something like that) so if you are curious check it out & you will see why I chose Twocky61.

Well, I volunteered all this year up until August, 5 days a week and I LOVED IT! But unfortunately due to physical illness I had to stop, I didn't want to but had no choice. Anyway I'm coping fine really, I spend my time trying to reach out to people, I will cook a nice different dinner each day which I enjoy doing (not every day-just when I'm feeling okay). I see my doctor regularly. I guess I'm just not like most people, I do enjoy my own company, the only problem with that though is when you're alone a lot, you thinking too much and anxiety lingers in. I cope okay.

What is this job of which U speak? I vaguely remember. Been 5 years for me. At least I picked up a Master's degree in Computer Information Systems during this time. Not that I believe anyone will ever hire me. But I will get by. I have learned to be content with what I have. But I can still sigh a lot.

When I was 18 I worked as a wardclerk in a private hospital. It's really a nightmare. Because of my anxiety I always make mistake and the senior clerk who are in charge of me hates me so much. One of the reason I can't past a couple of days in my other jobs is because I always afraid same thing like being an outcast will happen again. It seems like the social phobia is much worse than when I was working. I can't even going for a haircut alone now.

Well, I volunteered all this year up until August, 5 days a week and I LOVED IT! But unfortunately due to physical illness I had to stop, I didn't want to but had no choice. Anyway I'm coping fine really, I spend my time trying to reach out to people, I will cook a nice different dinner each day which I enjoy doing (not every day-just when I'm feeling okay). I see my doctor regularly. I guess I'm just not like most people, I do enjoy my own company, the only problem with that though is when you're alone a lot, you thinking too much and anxiety lingers in. I cope okay.

So I must have since you have asked lol how do you cope with it?!

:hug:

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If you are not already registered with http://www.7cupsoftea.com/ Petal this would be ideal for you. I was recently a listener there but due to lagging it was virtually impossible for me to take respond to calls. So I requested listener account deletion. Admin emailed me asking why I wanted to leave as my ratings from callers were good so i told her about my pc lagging. She said she would suspend my account so that when I resolve these technical issues I would be welcome back as a listener.